PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico – Gangs in Honduras first threatened Denia Garcia’s husband six months ago, telling him to join with them or die. Her husband, a police officer, fled to the United States, arriving successfully.

VATICAN – The joyous harmony of people coming together from so many different nations for World Youth Day stands in sharp contrast to today's "sad" situation of confrontational nationalist feelings, Pope Francis said.

EDMONTON – On a wintry Sunday morning in an Edmonton church, Eve Masenda ties a blue chitenge — an African sarong-like garment — around her daughter’s waist before Mass begins. 

VATICAN – When Pope Francis led the recitation of the Angelus prayer Jan. 20, he told the crowd in St. Peter's Square that he had "two pains in my heart: Colombia and the Mediterranean."

WASHINGTON – No sooner had President Donald Trump finished his Jan. 8 nine-minute speech, his first such event televised in prime time from the Oval Office, about what he termed a crisis at the border, than Catholic groups and others began tearing apart his arguments.

Christmas may come but once a year, but at the Furniture Bank they keep their eyes and ears open to the season year-round.

VATICAN – The Vatican praised the adoption by more than 160 nations of a key agreement on global migration, saying today's migration challenges are better tackled together than with "isolationist" stances.

VATICAN – Welcoming the finalization of global compacts on migration and on refugees, the Vatican urged nations to adopt the nonbinding agreements to protect people who are on the move and to promote their orderly acceptance in new countries.

Sr. Vicky Nguyen was ready to profess her final vows this year and enter fully into the life of the Congregation of the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood, but one obstacle stood in her way. Her application for Canadian permanent residence was rejected. 

MEXICO CITY – The chaotic scene in Tijuana Nov. 25 -- when migrants, including women and children, were repelled from the U.S. border with tear gas -- prompted the closure of one of the world's busiest border crossings. It also showed the increasing impatience and despair of thousands of caravan participants, who could spend months in an uncomfortable camp as they wait to present asylum claims to U.S. officials.

MEXICO CITY – The first participants in the caravan of Central Americans arriving in Tijuana, Mexico, were met with hostility as residents of an affluent neighbourhood confronted migrants wanting to camp on a beach near the border fence separating the United States and Mexico.

More than 7,000 Honduran migrants including children have crossed the Guatemalan and Mexican borders and are marching toward the United States. Some people, including the American president, are describing them as murderers, rapists, “very bad criminals.” Helicopters are hovering over them, while the border patrol and the military have been alerted. There are calls to close the border.

A caravan of up to 7,000 migrants heading north through Mexico toward a possible showdown at the American border are highlighting an urgent issue in Canadian refugee policy. 

TAPACHULA, Mexico – Bishop Jaime Calderón Calderón of Tapachula, Mexico praised the generosity of lay people and priests aiding migrants in his diocese.

EDMONTON – Thirteen-year-old Emmanuel Eremionkhale knows one or two words in Esan, and a couple more in Igbo, the Nigerian languages of his father and mother.